[Holo: the Sanctuary] // You can check out any time you like but you can never leave

[willkeeptrying]

 The room is large, and empty, and overwhelmingly clinical and sterile, and Wikus' immediate thought is that they have caught up with him again. The last thing he remembers is going to sleep, finding shelter in one of the abandoned hovels in the camp and wrapping himself in whatever ragged, filthy blankets he could find against the chill and

Comments

[holo]

[rose_tainted]

"Hello," Rose replies gently, trying to reassure the newcomer. "You're alright, don't worry." Not that he might believe that of course but she felt the need to say it to him.

"My name is Rose and you're in a place called Taxon."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

A week earlier the disembodied voice would have gained a squawk of surprise, or at least a coo of curiosity. As it is it's just one more thing, and while Wikus frantically glances around for the source because it's starting to become habit, he's not sure what he would do even if he found it.

But the voice sounds kind, so he relaxes somewhat, pulling the arm wrapped in now-filthy rags in even further to try to hide it completely as if the motion won't only call more attention to it. "Ah, Wikus." He doesn't sound certain, but he's still trying to wrap his mind around the location change; he'll need a moment. He turns in a circle, trying to pinpoint where the sound is coming from, looking a bit like a lost dog. "What is Taxon? I was in Johannesburg, and now you are telling me I am somewhere else? How...? Is MNU behind this?" They do have quite a lot of money; he wouldn't be surprised if they could fund the kind of kidnapping operation that caught people unawares and caused them to wake up places with no idea how they'd gotten

[holo]

[rose_tainted]

Rose could definitely sympathise, having been in his position a few months before. She was lost and confused herself, not knowing where she was. Of course, she was brought post her death which made the situation a lot more complicated.

She watches the man carefully and takes note of his behaviour; he was hiding something but Rose wasn't sure what it was. That's when she notices his arm, having missed it before. "It's nice to meet you, Wikus." She keeps her voice warm and friendly. "Taxon is a long way from anywhere that you know. I'm afraid I don't know who the MNU are but they are not behind this."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

"They are...very bad people. Although. I would not think kidnappers would be very good people in general either." Some more haphazard craning around (he would move, but he's not entirely convinced shouting people with guns won't pop out from a door somewhere if he does) finally shows the source of the voice; a small phone-shaped gadget sitting on a pedestal with a hologram popping out of the top. A phone! Wikus scampers over to it, concerns momentarily forgotten in the fascination with the device. He cranes down to look at it, narrowly resisting the urge to wave at the little person standing there, the fact that she doesn't seem to know that he's a fugitive emboldening him somewhat. "Oh! There you are. Hello!"

[voice]

[imperial_long]

"Good afternoon," responds a man's voice, British-accented.

"While 'misunderstandings' are one of the basic facts of existence, to be sure, the current situation is unlikely to be connected with anything with which you have past experience. If nobody else had told you yet, this place is called Taxon, and it is... a city, populated by people taken from their own lives, homes.... worlds."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

There are so many words, all coming from thin air, and Wikus isn't sure how to respond to it at first. He glances around, frantically searching for the origin; the man sounds like a scientist, or at least he speaks like one, and Wikus' most recent experiences point out that nothing good can come from it if that's the case, but finally he just settles for addressing the room as a whole.

The words sound ominous, and he doesn't like them one bit, although it's somewhat reassuring to know that at least he's not the only one in this predicament. He likes it even less that evidently he's just gone from being a fugitive from one group to kidnapped by another, however. "Why? I didn't do anything, what do they want with us?"

[voice]

[imperial_long]

The voice sighs. "I wish I knew the answer to that myself. None of us have 'done' anything-- this city doesn't appear to be punishment..... well, not most of the time..."

He shrugs, not that the man can see it. The holo of the fellow is looking around frantically, and Long clears his throat. "To your right-- the pedestal and the device upon it. That is what I am speaking from."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

Some more glancing around reveals the thing the voice mentioned, and Wikus creeps over to it warily. "Thank you, it is a little disorienting speaking to an empty room. Just a voice too, but..." He shrugs; it looks like a telephone, more or less, it would be too much to assume he would get a picture.

"So what is this room here? There do not seem to be any doors," he comments with a frown.

[visual]

[garg_elisa]

The image on the screen is of a very clearly non-human woman (yes, those are wings), but her dark eyes hold a definitive spark of intelligence.

Police-born instincts access the man, the behavior definitely pinging on her "junkie" radar.

"Hello?" she says. "I'm... not going to say you're safe... but you're not in any immediate danger either."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

Wikus eyes the strange woman on the screen warily but with significantly less concern or surprise than might be expected; he deals with the prawns daily, or did before he ended up here, and is starting to turn into one himself. A woman with strange wings isn't particularly high on his weirdness radar these days.

"Well you are honest, at least. I appreciate that." He steps closer to the screen to get a better look, movements best described as 'skittering', as if he's worried something is going to jump out of the shadows at him at any moment. "You...have wings." He pulls his arm closer to himself, the movement protective, as if her deformity reminds him to better conceal his own.

Re: [holo]

[garg_elisa]

She nods. "I do; my name is Elisa," she begins. Now is definitely not the time for a lengthy explanation of herself, or, at least, the simplified version most people know.

"And unfortunately, the news around here isn't very good. This place is called Taxon. And we're all prisoners here."

[holo]

[willkeeptrying]

"Ah. Well it is nice to meet you, Elisa, whatever the reason. I'm Wikus."

A pause, and he runs his 'good' hand through his hair absently; a nervous habit that he doesn't really notice. "Has anyone ever managed to escape? Because...if it is a prison, there has to be some way to get out, yeah?"